Nowitzki commented on the incident after Saturday’s practice, “I just thought it was a little childish, a little ignorant. I’ve been in this league for 13 years. I’ve never faked an injury or illness.”

Sick or not, Nowitzki is averaging 27 points in the NBA Finals, and his Dallas Mavericks have a 3-2 lead over the Miami Heat.

“It happened. It’s over to me,” Nowtizki said. “It’s not going to add anything extra to me. This is the NBA Finals. If you need an extra motivation at this time of year then you have a problem. We’re one win away from my dream, what I’ve worked on for half of my life.”

When asked about the alleged cough, Wade said, “I actually did cough, and with the cameras being right there, we made a joke out of it because we knew you guys were going to blow it up. You did exactly what we knew.”

Despite the controversy, Wade is claiming his and LeBron’s innocence, “We never said Dirk’s name. I think he’s not the only one in the world who can get sick or have a cough. We just had fun with the cameras being right in our face about the blowup of the incident, and it held to be true. You blew it up.”